The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of figuring out when to plant black pepper is to refer to the USDA zone info for Walnut.

Planting Calendar for Black pepper

Frost tolerance for black pepper:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

Since black pepper are not cold tolerant you must wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant black pepper in Walnut is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant black pepper and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your black pepper may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your black pepper indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on January 31 in Walnut. It might get as low as 30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Walnut is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Walnut you get surprised by a frost after January 31 be ready to cover your black pepper in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Walnut

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Walnut

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Walnut.